Birds of Stoney Creek

By Professor Glen Hvenegaard

University of Alberta (gth@ualberta.ca)

Updated January 6, 2022

Birds are fascinating creatures. As a group, they offer amazing diversity, beautiful songs, amazing colors, and interesting behaviour. Bird watching, birding, and bird study are growing in popularity, offering ways to connect to nature. People watch birds to appreciate unique characteristics of birds, to socialize, to have friendly competition with each other, to conserve birds, and to conduct research.

Around the world, there are about 10,000 species of birds. North America hosts over 900, Canada over 600, and Alberta over 400 species. Enjoying birds is easy. Go walking with binoculars and a field guide, listen to birds singing, join a nature club, or set up a bird feeder. One can simply appreciate the special qualities of birds, but if you want to dig deeper, it helps to identify birds according to species. You can identify birds based on characteristics that separate one species from another. For example, focus on bird size, shape, color, behaviour, flight pattern, sounds, preferred habitat, range, timing, and relative abundance. Start slow with some of the more common birds around your home, and then build up your repertoire as you travel to other places. Soon you will recognize birds with just a glance or having heard a brief sound.

The birdlife of Stoney Creek is particularly diverse, spectacular, and abundant. Stoney Creek valley is part of the aspen parkland ecoregion, one of Alberta’s most varied regions for birds. The Stoney Creek contains wetlands, riparian areas, aspen forests, patches of shrubs, native prairie, badlands, cropland, and urban areas all support bird diversity. 

There are chances to see birds throughout the year. During the winter, hardy and friendly Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, House Finches, and Downy Woodpeckers visit our feeders. 

Some species, like the Snowy Owl and Northern Shrike, arrive from the north to spend the winter here. Bohemian Waxwings enjoy the remaining fruit from Mountain Ash trees. The spring brings the northward migration of dozens of species to nest and feast on abundant food sources. The valley comes alive with the color, songs, and behaviours of birds who are establishing territories, attracting mates, and setting up nests. 

The diversity of birds is impressive. During the summer, parents frantically feed and guard their young so that they can survive the challenging southward migration to come. In the fall, valley users can experience the movements of tens of thousands of Snow, Greater White-fronted, and Canada Geese. Careful observers will notice the quiet songbirds accompanied by this year’s offspring. And then the annual natural cycle begins again.

Camrose has a longstanding connection with Purple Martins, North America’s largest species of swallow. Martins nest here in the spring and summer and return to Brazil and area each winter. With ongoing habitat change, today’s martins rely on condominium-style nest boxes built by humans (see next to the Rotary Pavilion and the Stoney Creek Centre). Frank Farley, an original Camrose Booster, nurtured many martins and martin-lovers in our region. By understanding the particular preferences of martins, hosting a successful nesting colony brings benefits to the birds (eg. nesting success and safety) and landlords (eg. learning, achievement, sharing with others, and joy of watching).

Bird numbers have declined recently and need our help. Like humans, they need abundant food, healthy habitats, and protection from dangers. You can support birds by protecting habitats, minimizing pollution, providing food, or building and maintaining nest boxes. It is especially important to maintain existing priority habitats like native grasslands, wetlands, and forests. 

Please consider becoming a citizen scientist by participating in the Camrose Christmas Bird Count (or a bird count in many other locations), Project FeederWatch, Breeding Bird Survey, Nocturnal Owl Monitoring, or many other citizen science projects. You can also join nature or birding clubs. They will welcome you, guide you to outstanding birding locations, and mentor you in the birding world. Locally, you might try the Wildrose Outdoor Club, Edmonton Nature Club, Buffalo Lake Nature Club or Red Deer River Naturalists.

There are many locations nearby where you can have a wonderful experience with birds. In the Stoney Creek valley, try Mirror Lake, the Battle River junction, beaver ponds, and aspen woods along the sides. You can find many more birding locations in this document:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/32151660/birding-and-nature-hotspots-around-camrose-tourism-camrose. Further afield, you should check out Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, Elk Island National Park, Beaverhill Bird Observatory at Beaverhill Lake, and the Gwynne chickadee trail.

Birds are amazing components of our valley, bringing life and diversity to our community.

Photo sources

Glen Hvenegaard Professor, University of Alberta

Darcy and Lea Polny are graduates of the Alberta University of Arts. They worked as graphic designers for many years as Groundwater Communications while raising their family and now spend time creating fine art. Darcy has written and published two children’s books and won seven international fine art competitions for his watercolours. Lea paints in acrylics and volunteers her design and marketing abilities to support the Bailey Theatre

Ken Roberts – member of the Rotary Club of Camrose

Shirley Rostad – member of the Rotary Club of Camrose